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I . Women on the Farm I
Conducted By Mrs. IV. H. Felton. 0
+ * Correspondence on home topics or ♦
+ subjects of especial interest to wo- ♦
4. men is invited. Inquiries or letters +
♦ should be brief and clearly written ♦
♦ tn ink on one side of the sheet. •#>
+ Write direct to Mrs. W. H. Fel- ♦
<• ton. Editor Home Department Semi- ♦
4> Weekly Journal. Cartersville. Ga. ♦
<• No inquiries answered by mail. ♦
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»»♦»!»♦>»> »»♦♦♦! Mill I
The Truth About Aguinaldo.
Aguinaldo was recognised as the leader
of the Filipino insurgents In the contest
with Spain before Admiral Dewey appear
ed in Manila harbor and demolished the
Spanish ships. Spain made feeble resist
ance and the American victory was com
plete Admiral Dewey proved’ himself
a naval captain of renown and consum
mate ability.
When Spain retired then the admiral
and Aguinaldo were face to face as to the
disposition that should be made of the
Filipino country. 1
It Is said by some that Admiral Dewey
did not offer to Aguinaldo any assurance
of the ultimate freedom of the Philippines
as an independent government, and by
others it is said that Aguinaldo became
thoroughly satisfied that his people would
be granted all they were seeking to wrest
from Spain before Admiral Dewey crossed
the Pacific ocean during the Spanish-
American war.
Os course there could be honest mis
takes made, in discussing the future of
Aguinaldo's countrymen, growing out of
.the difficulties of the taro languages and
the Impressions made upon the minds of
the little brown men of the Orient thereby.
Whatever Admiral Dewey will tell us
of his part in the matter we may be
sure he will believe to be the correct
statement but somewhere and somehow
Aguinaldo and his followers were changed
from friends to enemies of the American
people. He led the insurgents (if that is
a proper term for a people intent on win
ning their civil and religious liberty from
their oppressors) until he was himself
captured by General Funston and con
fined as a prisoner of war.
It now transpires that Aguinaldo was
decoyed Into imprisonment by the use of
forged letters, and the military authorities
defend their employment of forged let
ters as being one of the legitimate meth
ods of modern warfare.
It is quite probable that forgery is fre
quently used by some military men. but
there must be a geA-al desire among all
fair and honorable soldiers to make for
gery a dernier resort, if. indeed, it can be
shown to be proper, even in exceptional
cases, as now claimed.
It would also appear that the Filipino
chieftain has a substantial grievance in
the employment of methods which he
disdained to use for himself.
To compress the whole matter in a nut
shell this great big, rich American nation
jumped on a puny little one with both
feet, all the time flattering Aguinaldo
with professions of friendship, which were
neither honest or necessary, under the
prevailing Conditions of the tlma. Gen
eral Funston was ambitious to pose as
the forger, but General MacArthur vigor
ously disputes the Funston claim. He as
sumes all responsibility of trapping Aguin
aldo by means of forgery. It must be a
day of small men when the great Amer
ican army which costs the country a mil
lion of dollars each week u» the Philip
pines could not conquer pjor Aguinaldo
in a more honorable way. It looks dis
reputable to those of us who are heartily
ashamed of the whole proceeding.
And it is further disclosed that ten
year old boys were brave enough to carry
arms and die like Filipino men in defense
of their homes and native land.
Just think of the boys you know who
are ten years old and fancy these chil
dren as Filipino soldiers, to be met uy
Krag muskets and Gatling guns in the
hands of our stalwart American troops!
The spirit that moved these little boys
will not be crushed out by forged letters
of decoy or a general order to massacre
the inhabitants stove ten years* old.
So far as I am able- to discover we have
been rushing from bad to worse since this
start for conquest was made and if the
United States has reputation as a brave
nation it must certainly be set down, in
view of all these tragic happenings as a
brutal and unfair one. I'd rather be in
Aguinaldo’s shoes than in Funston’s or
MscArthuris.
Buttermilk as a Health Restorer.
The argument is gravely advanced that
buttermilk, when freely taken, is a reme
dy for senility—old age.
It acts as a blood renewer. keeping off
gout, stiff muscles, etc.
You must urink at least a quart every
•day. and as much more as your stomach
will beer. (As a drink 1 should want it
fresh every day.) This Is pleasant news to
some of us whose knees are not supple
any more, and whose brisk days seem to
have gone forever, as to getting about-
Fresh buttermilk is certainly good, and
if kept very cold, decidedly pleasant on a
hot summer s day. It is also better tasted
than any popular preparation of cod liver
oil or Peruvian bark for feeble or run
down systems. Buttermik. as a medicine
is far ahead of any drug or decoction that
has come my way. If it will keep off the
depression that attends failing powers of
mind or body, it will be an invaluable
remedy.
The Boers Are Overcome.
The news comes from over the water
that the war tn South Africa is ended.
The Boers are crushed out— overpowered
by numbers. It Is also reported that
Oom Paul Kruger is almost heart
broken over the surrender of the Boer
army. It has been only a question of
time from the start, but history will write
the Boar people as a brave and deter
mined cltlxenshlp, and in the coming fu
ture there may be a chance to recover
what has been surrendered, and their
final independence may be secured, when
they profit by what has been learned in a
hard school of experience, and then em
brace a favorable opportunity.
Nothing is settled until, it is settled
right.
For one I think I know exactly how
those stalwart Dutch farmers feel down
tn the Transvaal country. I know how
bttter'are the dregs of such a cup of de
feat and disaster. I went through a four
years’ war, was overpowered by numbers,
experienced all the results of such de
moralisation and ruinous devastation In
this southern country. I could cry, if
it would do those Dutch burghers and
fraus any good, because they are crushed
down by main force, and have buried
thousands of the loved and lost, in what
appears to be a vain struggle to out
siders. and my heart suffers for their
sake. But it is not really tn vain; unless
those Boers fling away in reckless aban
don the principles they have been strug
gling for. One swallow does not make a
summer. It really seems as if the British
also crippled themselves very seriously
to conquer a handful of Dutch farmers.
Just think of an army of COO.OOO men be
ing necessary to overcome .70,000 Boers!
That tells the tale, without further ex
planation. The Boers actually wore
themselves out tn doing up nearly nine
times their own number in a hard
struggle.
Great Britain may sound trumpets and
ring bells, but the record of army losses
the dreadful story tells. The cost of the
war is'heavy enough goodness knows, in
blood and treasure.
The Boars may take grim comfort in
the fact that it required manhood un
questioned to put such a horde of op
ponents hors du combat.
That Dutch country has produced men,
fighting men, beyond question. Strong,
brave men.
I wish brave old Paul Kruger would
come to the south and settle some of his
kind here among us. Such citlsens are
worth having. It may be arranged that
Oom Paul shall go to St. Helena, where
Great Britain sends its bravest enemies,
and spends a lifetime in humiliating men
like Napoleon Bonaparte, but Oom Paul,
I trust, will stay out of reach, or better
still, come over to us. It has been a
source of shame and mortification to
many of us. that the congress of the
United States was too much afraid of
Great Britain to publicly sympathise with
the Boers in their struggle for inde
pendence. But it may be accounted for
’"J*® fact that they were treating the
Filipinos as Great Britain did the Boers.
Our Young Women to Make Addresses
at University.
3**° youn * Georgia students—young la
dies selected from Georgia Normal school
at Athens and from the Milledgeville Nor
mal and Industrial-are to make addresses
at * ~ “ nlvers, ty commencement in Ath
ens Their papers will be read before this
article goes into print. While Georgia has
. ,n rec °r n *«lng the aptitude and
ability of our well trained women students,
the old state is coming along all right."
Our state university should also be opened
to girts apd young women for the benefit
of the lectures and for proper conferring
of degrees.
So long as women are the great major
ity of the teaching class, there should be
no opportunity in literature or art closed
to their entrance or enjoyment.
I base this argument upon the well
known fact that the taxpayers of any
state In the union are women as well as
men. In cities like Atlanta the women
taxpayers are in the great majority.
It is neither Just nor becoming to con
tend that women are inferior to men in
other respects when unstinted burdens are
laid upon their pocketbooks.
Particularly is it unwise to say that
higher education should be withheld from
the girls of this country under these cir
cumstances.
The mere accident of sex does not stamp
inferiority in any particular on the chil
dren of the same parents. The law of in
heritance makes no such unwise distinc
tion. A girl child Inherits equally with the
males of her own family. When parents
pay taxes into the strongbox of the state
or nation they should insist that their girl
children should be equally regarded in
a distribution of public benefits, especially
on linfifc ‘of education and in helpful in
dustries. because it is a fact not disputed
that women and girls are wage earners
as well as men. There are multitudes of
families that look to the women for a
large part of their daily bread, and so
long as there are so many calico pen
sioners among the men as there are it
smacks of assumacy to shut any sort of
a school house door on the girls of this
country.
Once upon a time a chancellor of a uni
versity (I will not call his name or the
state he lived in for hie own sake) went
before a board of trustees and made the
plea that girls might be instructed by
opening the university to them, but the
result would be demoralising to the young
men—that the boys would be injured by
that much co-education.
I had at once the profoundest pity (I had
almost said contempt) for the man as well
as hts argument.
Any young chap in that university who
Is educated at the state's expense and
who would complain that he was being
hurt by the presence of nice young ladles
in those recitation rooms, listening to
public lectures, should be sent home to
the plow handles to teach him what he
should have been prepeared tn before he
ever matriculated as a college student.
It makes me tired to repeat such twad
dle. Let the girls have as good opportu
nities as the land affords. I am glad those
girls have a chance to read papers before
the commencement visitors. I’d stake a
dollar that they will do their parts well
and hurt nobody while they are doing it.
How They Died at St. Pierre.
Harper’s Weekly gives a most interest
, Ing account of the Indifference or apathy
of the inhabitants living on the Island of
Martinique when Mt. Pelee erupted and
carried 34.000 into a quick death on the
morning of May Bth and entombed their
remain;’ at the same time.
A resident of the island and of the city
of St. Pierre told the author of this ac
count in Harper's Weekly of his own mar
velous escape from this awful death. The
avalanche of fiery lava and boiling mud
fell on the city at five minutes to 8 on that
fatal morning. At 7 this gentleman was
at his St. Pierre home, but the situation
alarmed him, and he ordered his carriages
made ready to carry him and his family
away from the city.
As he sat down to his breakfast he
glanced at the barometer, which was flut
tering wildly. It greatly alarmed him.
and he had twenty-eight friends stopping
with him who laughed at his fears and
refused to go away. But he started with
his wife and four children to one of hts
country places five kilometers from the
city. He passed by the American consul’s
house —he spoke to Consul Prentiss and
his wife who were standing on their ver
anda. He begged them to get away, as
he was doing. Mr. Prentiss laughed at
his fears and said there was no danger,
that he was not in dread. He drove to
the country place before mentioned when
the eruption took place, as they sat in the
carriage.
Inside of an hour after he left, the city
of St. Pierre was literally annihilated with
everybody in it. and the narrator barely
escaped, as herein stated.
This wise man who fled, said he saw the
great mass of cloud or smoke that had
hung over the volcano for days, suddenly
rise and apparently topple over, with ter
rible noise, and fall on the city. He look
ed at his watch and said it was barely two
minutes from the time it seemed to fall
over before it ran into the sea.
Below where he was standing on tne
mountain side he saw his sister's home on
her estate and the whole place burst into
flames. His own house caught on fire,
but the blast was not so overwhelming
as to destroy everything around him, as
In the city of the plain.
Leaving his family with the coachman,
he went as quickly as possible towards
his sister’s home. When he got near
enough to see clearly, he found his rela
tives were dead and being burned up. The
heat was so great he could not get near
the dead. Not a living thing was left,
grass, herbs, cattle, nothing.
Ot all the awful things that we term
disasters, this annihilation of St. Pierre
on the Island of Martinique is the most
appalling known to this or any other era.
In two minutes the living population was
literally cremated and burned beneath a
burning mass from ten to twenty feet
thick all over the city. Words are inade
quate to express the horror, but it is ev
ident that the inhabitants were carried to
their doom In the twinkling of an eye.
Watch the date on the label by which
you receive your Semi-Weekly and
when the time has expired send in your
renewal, so your paper will not be dis
; continued.
THE SEMI-WEEKLY JOURNAL, ATLANTA, GEORGIA, MONDAY. JUNE 23, 1902.
>♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦« I ♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦< »♦» I • I 1 *»♦♦♦
“TP I 1’ C L ”
Tne Leonard s boots
SYNOPSIS OF PRECEDING CHAPTERS.
The novel opens with the home coming of Nelse, a negro body servant, who
had followed the fortunes of his master, Col. Charles Gaston, through the bloody
days of the civil war, and who had hell him dying in his arms in the fighting
before Richmond. Ever faithful, the negro had refused the liberty offered him,
and had come back to the North Carolina home of his dead colonel to bring
his watch and sword to his son, Charles Gaston,, Jr., and a farewell letter to his
beautiful wife. The sight of the negro, accompanied by the preacher who had re
mained at homo to comfort the women end children, brings despair to the wire,
and she becomes desperately ill when told of the death of her husband, while
leading his men in a forlorn hope.
The second chapter tells of the home cdmlng ot Tom Camp, a veteran who
had served under Colonel Gaston, and who had lost a leg in the wy. He is re
ceived with great affection by his wife, who is glad to get him back, even if he
does come tn pieces. The minister. Rev. John Durham, calls upon him and re
quests him to sit up with Mrs. Gaston, who is desperately ill. The true hearted
veteran agrees to do so, but insists tnat the faithful negro, Nelse, be kept out or
sight. He still hates the negroes.
CHAPTER 111. ;
DEEPENING SHADOWS.
On the second day after Mrs. Gaston was
stricken a forlorn little boy sat in the
kitchen watching Aunt Eve get supper.
He saw her ned while she worked the
dough for the biscuits.
“Aunt Eve. I’m going to sit up tonight
and every night with my mamma ’till she
gets well. I can’t sleep for hours and
hours. I lie awake and cry when I hear
her talking ’till I feel like I’ll die. I must
Jo something to help her.’
“Laws, honey, you’se too little. You
can’t keep 'wake ’tall. You get so lone
some and skeered all by yerself."
“I don’t care. I’ve told Tom to wake
me tonight.if I’m asleep when he goes,
and I’ll sit up from 12 till 2 o’clock and
then call you.”
“All right, mammy’s darling boy, but
you git tired en can't stan’ it-"
So thgt night at midnight he took his
place by the bedside. His mother was
sleeping, at first. He sat and gazed with
aching heart at her still, white face. She
stirred opened .her eyes, saw him and
imagined he was his father.
“Dearie. I knew you would come.” she
murmured. “They told me you were dead;
but I knew better. What a long, long
time you have been away. How brown the
sun has tanned your face, but, it’s as
handsome. I think handsomer than ever.
And how like you is little Charlie! I knew
you would be proud of him!”
While she talked her eyes' had a glassy
look, that seemed to take no note of any
thing in the room.
The child listened fpr ten minutes, and
then the horror of her strange voice and
look and words overwhelmed him. He
burst into tears and threw his arms
around his mother’s neck and sobbed.
“Oh! mamma, dear, it's me, Charlie,
your little boy, who loves you so much.
Please, don’t talk that way. Please look
at me like you used to. There! Let me
kiss your eyes till’they are soft and sweet
again!”
He covered her eyes with kisses.
The mother seemed dased for a moment,
held him off at arm's length and then
burst into laughter.
“Os course, you silly I know you. You
must run to bed now. Kiss me good
night.”
“But you are sick, mamma; I am sitting
up with you.”
Again she Ignored hts presence. She
was back in the old days with her love.
She was kissing her hand to him as he
left her for his day’s work. Charlie look
ed at the clock. It was time to give her
the soothing drops the doctor left. She
took it, obedient as a child, and went on
and on with interminable dreams of the
past, now and then uttering strange things
for a boy's ears.- But so terrible was the
anguish with which he watched her, the
words made little impression on his mind.
It seemed to him some one was strangling
him to death, and a great stone was piled
on his little prostrate body.
When she grew quiet, at last, and dosed,
how still the house seemed! How loud the
tick of the clock! How slowly the hands
moved! He had never noticed this be
fore. He watched the hands for five min
utes. It seemed each minute was an hour,
and five minutes were so long as a day.
What strange noises in the house! Sup
pose a ghost should walk into the room!
well, he wouldn’t run and leave his mam
ma; he made up his mind to that.
Some nights there were sounds more
ominous. The town was crowded with
strange negroes, who were hanging around
the camp of the garrison. One night a
drunken gang came shouting and scream
ing up the alley close beside the house
firing pistols and muskets. They stopped
at the house and one of them yelled:
“Burn the rebel's house down! It’s our
turn now!”
The terrified boy rushed tp the kitchen
and called Nelse. In a minute Nelse was
on the scene. There was no more trouble
that night.
“De lazy black debbels,” said Nelse, as
he mopped the perspiration from his brow,
“I’ll teach ’em what freedom is.”
The next day when the Rev. John Dur
had had an interview wltn the command
ant of the troops, he succeeded in getting
a consignment of corn for seed, and to
meet the threat of starvation among some
families whose condition he reported. This
Important matter settled, he said to the
officer:
“Captain, we must look to you for pro
tection. The town is swarming with va
grant negroes, bent on mischief. There art
camp followers with you organizing them
into some sort of union league meetings,
dealing out arms and ammunition to them,
and what is worse, inflaming the worsi
passions against their former masters,
teaching them insolence and training then,
for crime.”
“I'll do the best I can for you. doctor,
but I can't control the camp followers who
are organizing the union league. They
live a charmed life."
That night, as the preacher walked hOme
from a visit to a destitute family h?
encountered a burly negro on the side
walk. dressed in an old suit of Federal
uniform, evidently under the Influence of
whisky. He wore a belt around his waist,
in which he had thrust, conspicuously, an
old horse pistol.
Standing squarely across the pathway,
he said to the preacher:
"Git outer de road, white man, you’se
tr rebel; I'se er loyal Union Leaguer!”
It was his first experience with negro
insolence since the emancipation of his
slaves. Quick as a flash his right arm
was raised. But he took a second thought,
stepped aside, and allowed the drunken
fool to pass. He went home wondering in
a hazy sort of way through his excited
passions what the end of it all would
be. Gradually in his mind for days this
towering figure of the freed negro had
been growing more and more ominous un
til its menace overshadowed the poverty,
the hunger, the sorrows and the devasta
tions of the south throwing the blight of
its shadow over future generations, a ver
itable black death for the land and -its
people.
CHAPTER IV.
MR. LINCOLN’S DREAM.
Every morning before the preacher could
finish his breakfast, callers were knock
ing at the door—the negro, the poor white,
the widow, the orphan, the wounded, the
hungry, an endless procession.
The spirit of the returned soldiers was
all that he could ask. There was nowhere
a slumbering spark of war. There was
not the slightest effort to continue the
lawless habits of four years of strife. Ev
erywhere the spirit of patience, kelf-re
straint and hope marked the life of the
men who had made the moat terrible sol
diery. They were glad to be done with
war, and have the opportunity to rebuild
their broken fortunes. They were glad,
too. that the everlasting questibn of a
divided union was settled and settled for
ever. There was now to be one country
and one flag, and deep down In their souls
they were content with it.
The spectacle of this terrible army of
the Confederacy, the memory of whose
battle cry yet thrills the world, trans,-
formad in a, month into patient and hope
ful workmen, has never been paralleled
in history.
Who destroyed this scene of peaceful
rehabilitation? Hell has no pit dark
enough, and no damnation deep enough
for tnose conspirators when once history
has fixed their gujft.
The task before the people of the south
was one to tax the genius of the Anglo-
Saxon race as never In its history, even
had every friendly aid possible been ex
tended by the victorious north- Four mil
lion negroes had suddenly been freed, and
the foundations of economic order destroy
ed. Five billions of dollars’ worth of prop
erty were wiped out of existence, banks
closed, every dollar of money worthless
paper, the country plundered oy victorious
armies, its cities, mills and homes burn
ed and the flower of its manhood burled
in nameless trenches, or, worse still, flung
upon the charity of poverty, maimed
wrecks. The task of organizing this
wrecked society and marshalling into effi
cient citizenship this host of Ignorant ne
groes, and yet to preserve the civilization
of the Anglo-Saxon race, the priceless
heritage of two thousand years of strug
gle, was one to appal the wisdom of ages.
Honestly and earnestly the white people
of the south set about this work, and ac
cepted the thirteenth amendment to the
constitution abolishing slavery without a
protesting vote.
The president issued his proclamation,
announcing the method of restoring the
Union as it had been handed to him from
the martyred Lincoln, and endorsed unan
imously by Lincoln’s caoinet. This plan
was simple, broad and statesmanlike, and
its spirit breathed fraternity and union
with malice toward none and charity to
ward all. It declared what Idncoln had
always taught, that the union was inde
structible, that the rebellious states had
now only to repudiate secession, abolish
slavery and resume their positions in the
union, to preserve which so many lives
had been sacrificed.
The people of North Carolina accepted
th|s plan in good faith. They elected a
legislature composed of the noblest men
of the state, and chose an old Union man,
Andrew Macon, gyernor. Against Macon
was pitted the man who was now the
president and organizer of a federation of
secret oath-bound societies, of which the
Union League, destined to> play so tragic
a part in the drama about to follow was
the type. This man, Amos Hogg, was a
writer of brilliant and forceful style. Be
fore the war, a virulent secessionist lead
er, he had justified and upheld slavery,
and had written a volume of poems dedi
cated to Johh C. Calhoun. He had led
the movement for secession in the con
vention which passed the ordinance. But
when he saw his ship was sinking he turn
ed back upon the "errors” of the past,
professed the loyal Union sentiments,
wormed himself into the confidence of the
Federal government and actually succeed
ed in securing the position of provisional
governor of the state! He loudly profess
ed his loyalty, and with fury and malicp
demanded that Vance, the great war gov
ernor, hts predecessor, who, as a Union
man had opposed secession, should now
be hanged, and with him his fofmer asso
ciates in the secession convention, whom
he had misled with his brilliant pen.
But the people had a long memory. They
saw through this hollow pretense, griev
ed for their great leader, who was now
locked'in a prison cell in Washington and
voted for Andrew Macon.
In the bitterness of defeat, Amos Hogg
sharpened his wits and his pen and began
his schemes of revengeful ambition.
The fires of passion burned now in the
hearts of hosts of cowards, north and
south, who had not met their foe in bat
tle. Their day had come. The times were
ripe for the apostles of revenge and their
breed of statesmen.
The preacher threw the full weight of
his character and influence to defeat Hogg
and he succeeded in carrying the county
for Macon by an overwhelming majority.
At the election only the men who had
voted under the old regime were allowed
to vote. The preacher had not appeared
on the hustings as a speaker, but as an
organizer and leader of opinion he was
easily, the most powerful man in the
county, and one of the most powerful in
the state.
CHAPTER V.
THE OLD AND THE NEW CHURCH.
In the village of Hambright the church
was the center of gravity of the life of
the people. There were but two churches,
the Baptist and the Methodist. The Epis
copalians had a building, but it was built
by the generosity of one ot their dead
members. There were four Presbyterian
families in town, and they were working
desperately to build a church. The Bap
tists had really taken the county, and
the Methodists were their only rivals. The
Baptists had fifteen flourishing churches
in the county, the Methodists six. .There
were no others.
The meetings at the Baptist church in
the village of Hambrignt were the most
important gatherings in the county. On
Sunday mornings every body who could
walk, young and old. salpt and sinner
went to church, and by far the larger
number to the Bae st church.
You could tell by the stroke of the bells
that the two were rivals. The sextons
acquired a peculiar skill in ringing these
bells with a snap and jerk that smashed
the clapper against the side in a stroke
that spoke defiance to all rival bells,
warning of everlasting fire to all sinners
that should stay away, and due notice to
the saints that even an apostle might be
come a castaway unless he made haste.
The men occupied one side of the house,
the women the other. Only very small
boys accompanying their mothers were to
be seen on the woman's side, together with
a few young men who fearlessly escorted
thither their sweethearts.
Before the services began, between the
ringing of the first and second bells, the
men gathered, in groups in the church yard
and discussed grave questions of politics
and weather. The services over, the men
lingered in the yard to shake hands with
neighbors, praise or criticise the sermon
and once more discuss great events. \ The
boys gathered in quiet, wistful groups and
watched the girls come slowly out of the
door, and now and then a daring youngster
summoned courage to ask to see one of
them home.
The services were of the simplest kind.
The singing of old hymns of Zion, the
reading of the bible the prayer, the col
lection, the sermon, the benediction.
The preacher never touched on politics,
no matter what the event under whose
world import his people gathered. War
was declared and fought for four years.
Lee. surrendered, the slaves were freed
and society was torn from the.foundations
of centuries, but you would never have
Bu REV. THOMAS DIXON, JR.
CoDuriaht 1902
By Doubleday, Page & Co
kpown it from the Ups of the Rev. John
Durham in his pulpit. These things were
but passing events. When he ascended
the pulpit he was the messenger of eter
nity. He spoke of God, of truth, of right
eousness, of Judgment, the same yester
day, tomorrow and forever.
Only In his prayers did he come closer
to the inner thoughts and perplexities of
the dally life of the people. He was
a man of remarkable power in the pulpit, j
His mastery of the Bible was profound.
He could speak pages of direct discourse
in its very language. To, him it was a di
vine alphabet, from whose letters he could
compose the most impassioned message
to the individual hearer before him. Its
literature, its poetic Are. the epic sweep
of the Old Testament record of life were
inwrought into the very flbre of his soul.
As a preacher he spoke with authority.
He was narrow and dogmatic in his in
terpretations of the Bible, but his very
narrowness and dogmatism were of his
flesh and blood, elements of his power.
He never stooped 'to controversy. He
simply announced the truth. The wise
received it. The fools rejected it and were
damned! That was all there was to it.
But it was in hts public prayers that
he was at his best. Here all the wealth
of tenderness of a great soul was laid
hare. In these prayers he had the subtle
genius that could find the way direct into
the hearts of the people before him, real
ize as his own their sins and sorrows,
their burdens and hopes and dreams and
fears, and then when he had made them
his own he could give them the wings of
deathless words and carry them up to
the heart of God! He prayed in a low.
soft tone of voice: it was. like an honest,
earnest child pleading with its father.
What a hush fell on the people when these
prayers began! With what breathless sus
pense every earnest soul followed
Before and during the war the gallery
of this church, which was built and re
served for the negroes, was always crowd
ed with dusky listeners that hung spell
bound on his words. Now there were only
a few, perhaps a dozen, and they were
growing fewer. Some new and mysterious
power was at work among the negroes,
sowing the scads of distrust and suspicion.
He wondered what it could be. He had
always loved to preach to these simple
hearted children of nature, and watch the
flash of resistless emotion sweep their dark
faces. He had baptized over five hundred
of them into the fellowship of the
churches in the village and the county
during the ten years of his ministry.
He determined to find out the cause of
this desertion of his church by the negroes
to whom he had ministered so many years.
At the close of a Sunday morning’s ser
vice Nelse was slowly uescending the gal
lery stairs leading Charlie Gaston by the
hand after the church had been nearly
emptied of the white people. The preach
er stopped him near the door.
“How’s your mistress. Nelse?”
"She’s gettin’ better all de time now,
praise de, Lawd. Eve she stay wider
dis mornin’ while I fetch dis boy ter
church. He des so sot on gdln'.”
"Where are all the other folks who used
to fill that gallery, Nelse?”
“You doan tell me you ain’t heard about
dem?” he answered with a grin.
“Well, I haven’t heard, and I want to,
hear.”
“De dey done got er
church er dey own! Dey has meetin’ now
in de school house dat Yankee 'oman
built. De teachers tell em es dey ain’t
good ernuf ter sit wid de wnlte folks in
dere chu’ch, dey got ter hole up dey haids,
and not ’low nobody ter push 'em up in er
nigger gallery! So dey’s got ole Uncle
Josh Miller to preach fer ’em. He ’low he
got er call, en hfe stan’ up dar en holler
fur ’em bout er hour ev’ry Sunday mawn
ln’ en night. En sech whoopin’, en yellin’,
en bawlin’! Yer can hear ’em er mile!
Dey tries ter git me ter go. I tell ’em
Marse John Durham’s preachin’s good er
nuf fur me gall’ry er no gall'ry. I tell
’em dat I spec er gall’ry nigher heaven
den de lower flo’, enyhow—en fuddermo’,
dat when I goes ter church, I wants ter
hear sumfln’ mo’ dan er ole fool nigger er
bawlin’. I can holler myself. En dey 'low
I gwine back on my color. En den I tell
’em I spec I ain’t so proud dat I can’t
lam sum white folks. En day say dey
gwine ter lay fur me ylt.”
“I’m sorry to hear »-ls," said the preach
er, thoughtfully.
“Yasslr, hits des lak I tell yer. I spec
dey gone fur good. Niggers ain’t got no
sense, nohow. I des wish I own ’em er
bout er week! Dey gitten madder’n mad
der et me all de time case I stay at de
ole place en wuk fer my po sick mlstus.
Dey sen’ er kermittee ter see me mos’
ev’ry day ter 'splaln ter me I’se free. De
las’ time dey come I lam one on de haid
wider stick er wood erfo dey leave me
lone.”
“You must be careful, Nelse.”
"Yasslr, I nebber hurt ’lm. Des sorter
crack hts skull er little ter show ’lm what
I gwine do wid ’lm nex’ time dey come
pesterin' me.”
“Have they been back to see you since?”
“Dat dey ain’t. But dey sont me word
dey gwine git de Freeman’s Buro atter
me. En I sont ’em back word ter sen Mr.
Buro right on en I land ’im in de middle
era spell er sickness, des es sho es de
Lawd gimme strenk.”
“You can’t resist the Freedman’s Bu
reau, Nelse.” ■>
“What dat buro got ter do wid me,
Marse John?”
“They’ve got everything to do with ypu,
my boy. They have absolute power over
all questions between the negro and the
white man. They can prohibit you from
working for a white parson without their
consent, and they can fix your wages and
make your contracts.”
“Well, dey better lemme erlone, or
dere’ll be trouble in dis town, sho’s my
name's Nelse.”
“Don’t you resist their officer. , Come
to me if you get into trouble with them.”
was the preacher’s parting injunction.
Nelse made his way but. leading Charlie
by the hand, and bowing his giant form
in a quaint deferential way to the white
people he knew. He seemed proud of his
association tn the church with the whites,
and the position of Inferiority asslgnpd
him in no sense disturbed his pride. He
was muttering to himself as he walked
slowly along looking down at the ground
thoughtfully. There was infinite scorn
and defiance in’his voice.
“Bu-ro! Bu-ro! Des let ’em fool wid
me! Til make 'em see de seben stars tn
de middle er de day!”
(To be continued.)
POINTS ABOUT PEOPLE.
Halsutta Mioco. a full blood Indian, has been
elected chief of the Seminole tribe In the In
dian Territory, defeating John F. Brown, a
half breed. The election may hasten the disso
lution of the Seminole tribal government.
While a Dunkirk steam trawler was sinking
off Iceland August Calcoen. a Belgian, refused
to risk his comrades' lives by stepping Into the
already overladen boat In which they were be
ing transferred to a fishing smack. Before the
skiff could return to rescue him Calcoen went
down in his vessel.
When Governor Davis returned to Little Rock,
Ark-, and was questioned concerning his expul
sion from the Second Baptist church of Little
Rock he casually remarked that he had caught
seventeen fine striped bass In Lake Chicot, and
that was all ha had to say.
The Shah of Persia,- who is now visiting in
Europe, will not travel on a railroad faster
than eight or ten miles an hour. A large staff
of detectives travels with his imperial majesty.
Another oriental potentate-Is also in Europe,
being now in Paris on his way to see the coro
nation of King Edward. He is the Maharajah
of Jaipur, an Indian ruler, who travels with
a suite comprising 20 dignitaries and 123 ser
vants. The baggage of this party weighs about
fifty tons.
Diplomacy.
Philadelphia Record.
Miss Olde— How did your trousers come to
be worn out at the knees?
Cinder Sam—By kneelln’ down an’ proposin'
to pretty ladles like yerself, mum.
DO YOU SHOOT? aa
If you do you should send your name and address on a postal card for a
WINCHESTER
"gun catalogue. , JJ S ck FREE ;
It illustrates and describes all the different Winchester Rifles, Shotguns and
Ammunition, and contains much valuable information. Send ".t once to the
Winchester Repeating Arms Co., New Haven, Conn.
Genuine Rogers Silverwares KoVeTrS* 1
We make tbeze extraordinary low prices tor the month of June only to test the
value o' advertising.
6 Triple Plated $|
Dinner Knives
VLTTUV THEJEWLER, J Atlanta, Fork ®’ Table Spoons j|
I\JiLLc.Y, 28 Whitehall 3t. I Ca- sl-20; Teaspoons, 6Oc-
Shall Railroad Pooling Be Legalised; J
Shipping Interests Vitally
WASHINGTON, June 14—The chief rea
son the-railroad managers bring forward
the Elkins bill for an amendment to the
Interstatfe commerce law that concerns the
matter of poojing. The privilege of pool
ing is supposetFhy 4hem to be of vital im
portance, and their opinions on the sub
ject are entitled to respecthtF considera
tion.
Let us see what pooling involves.
It is desired to establish it, we will say,
in trunk line territory. There are some
strong lines there and some very weak
ones; there are short lines and long; there
are direct roads for the business between
leading points, and there are roads twice
as long which nevertheless demand a
share of the business. There are local
roads which have a fair claim to nothing
bdt local business, but which are never
theless capable of being made links of
long but circuitous routes, and of thus
becoming disturbers of rates for the whole
territory. The problem, when pooling Is
proposed, is how to satisfy all the parties;
how to apportion the business so that all
will be content and remain so. And at
the outset it must be understood that
there is not business enough to make
them all profitable and Inevitably some
must have precarious existence.
To expect to satisfy all under such cir
cumstances is as vain as to expect to sat
isfy a miscellaneous collection of carniv
erous beasts by dividing among them a
carcass which is Insufficient to more than
whet the appetite. Content with the di
vision is out of the question. Each will
take what is allotted to it if it sees no
chance of getting more, but with such
mental protests as will make it eager to
embrace any circumstances which seem
to give promise of better division if the
pool is broken up. And such circum
stances are constantly presenting them
selves. The pooling family Is very seldom
a happy family; it is seldom. If ever,
bound together by friendly ties. Each*con
slders his neighbor unfair and unjustly
grasping, and chafes under the fact.
Thus all the elements of disorganization
attend It from the start. Moreover, the
most perfect pool is liable to be invaded
by means of arrangements that may seem
altogether unnatural and yet be very ef
fective. , The Canadian Pacific, notwith
standing its enormous length of line,
showed Itself quite capable of dictating
terms to the American transcontinental
roads in respect to business between
San Francisco and the cities of the inte
rior; and a pool which should embrace all
the lines of the Northwest might find its
arrangements broken in upon by a line
connecting Chicago and New York, but
made in part by the roads south of the
Ohio and the Potomac. There is almost
no limit to the possibility of forming such
roundabout lines as may constitute dis
turbers and disorganised of rates; and
the ingenuity in forming them is suffi
ciently active to prevent pooling being
more than an experimental device for
keeping the peace, whose duration Is de
pendent first on the good faith of the
parties, and next upon the power of oth
ers to upset their arrangements.
Pooling irith a legal sanction would
have all the elements of weakness that
attended the old pooling except one. When
the pool as It used to be formed broke up.
there was no enforcing such obligations
as had been Incurred while it existed;
there was no compelling payment of bal
ances. With a legalized pooling there
might be the same difficulty in forming
the pool, the same elements of disorgani
zation would be Involved, the same con
tinuous good faith would be essential, and
the same possibilities would exist of fatal
intrusions from outside.
It is not at all probable that pooling
will be legalized before managers show,
first, a different attitude toward the law;
and, second, a better disposition to ob
serve mutual engagements. It is right at
this point that the radical mistakes have
been made. If the obligations entered into
In forming railroad associations had been
observed, pooling would have been of
much less moment than is now contended.
But the obligations in many cases seem
only to have been assumed that they
might be violated, and when men guilty
of violation ask for the legalization of
pooling to enable them to obey the law
the request does not seem to have a win
ning sound; it repels votes instead of gain
ing them. Before further law Is made at
their request they should show a purpose
to obey the law they now have. This is
the way it is likely to strike a legislative
body.
Two bills are now before the senate, the
Elkins bill, drawn up under railroad aus
pices, which contains a pooling clause
with all its phases. In the second section
of this bill, page 4, line 6: “For the di
vision of their traffic earnings on both.”
The divisions of traffic is considered the
greatest highwayman of commercial free
dom. or in other words, a tonnage of
g For a a
I Noon-time Nibble 11
| Uneeda |
| Biscuit I
At the office, in the home, in
the workshop everywhere f
I Uneeda Biscuit for a hasty I 5 1 I
W lunch. The famous In-er-seal I cents I aL
Package keeps out all damp- ' m
ness, dust and odor. ,
pool. There is no section of
: wli, feel the effects of
the south in its chief
r. T.nis h:fc’hwayman willjO
: a'irge hrm and have 4'
•>:.•?< < ut
- - = ■■ ' • ! 1
t.hat ev-W
' ' - ’ : 1 ' r ■
f •. :.i:> s: .-otton
. tnat the :
. used his firnwa
$50,000 in a single year.
The Shippers' bill in charge
ator Nelson, of Mlnnesotta, avoidTun
necessary interference with the man
agement of the railroads; but seeks to
protect the public as well as the rail- j
roads against the cancer of secret dis
crimination. The railroads will be com
pelled to live up to the published freight
tariffs or expose themselves to heavy
money fines. If. after due investigaXtton
by the commission, and after both sides
have had their hearing, it is found that
certain rates are unjust or discriminat
ing, the commissioners shall fix a Just
rate, to go into effect at once. The right
to appeal to higher courts is not denied
to the railroads, but, meanwhile the cor
rected rate to remain in force until af
firmed or overthrown by the appellate
court. Under such restrictions there
can be no valid objection to the so-called
traffic association. The practicaly effect
will be to make the interstate commwee
commission the arbiter between the rail
roads and the public, and It will prove
the ounce of prevention much more than
the pound of cure for oppression and
discrimination. •“v ■
The Semi-Weekly Journal is the offi
cial organ of the Southern Cotton
Growers’ Protective Association, and
through Its columns you will be ad
vised of all matters of interest pertain
ing to the crop, and you cannot afford
to be without the paper. Renew now
and get all the news.
canadianTt~barbados.
Toronto (Ontario) Globe.
A Toronto lady resident in Barbados
writes to relatives in the city under data
of May Bth as follows:
"You will probably hear today of ths
terrible volcanic eruption at St. Vincent
and of the slighter one of Martinique on
the 6th. We cannot as yet hear anything
of them, as all the telegraph lines are
broken. But It must be something awful,
as we are 90 miles away, and yet about
3:30 o’clock yesterday afternoon I heard
five rapid explosions. I thought nothing f'
of It. as I imagined it was cannon being .
fired in our harbor men-<f-war. But
it was the eruption of St. Vincent.
About 4:30 a terrible black cloud cams
from the west, which we thought was a
big storm. At 5 o'clock, when it came, it
was nothing but gray dust, and in a mo-/
ment or two the whole place
dark. We hurriedly shut up ejwrythlng
and went in doors. But indoors the dust
still came, and we were breathing and
sneezing dust. About 7 o'clock we had
thunder and lightning; only a couple of
claps were very near, and It passed away
in an hour. We were most afraid of tidal
waves, as they say they completely wash
a whole town away. In the afternoon, be- jH
fore the explosions were heard, we bad
two waves of enormous height, which the
weather bureau called earthquake waves.
We are most fortunate to escape so easi
ly, only a rain of dust and a thunder
storm with no rain.
“What the poor people of St. Vincent
have suffered must be terrible, if any of
them are alive. I feel as if I could never
get the house clean: the dust is blowing
in clouds. Our hair, clothes and beds are
full of it. The floors are so gritty. All
the time the dust fell it sounded like a
gentle rain, but not a frog, a bird or a
cricket sounded; even the mosquitoes diz
appeared and there was an unearthly
stillness except for the thunder. Even the
sea was perfectly still after the earth
quake waves passed.
“You can Imagine the night it was, with
the intense heat, the heavy rain of dust,
and the thunder, and our anxiety as to
whether we would have an earthquake or
tidal waves. The sulphuric smells all
night also were horrible. L has been
analyzing the dust which fell here, but
finds It only full of minerals, and no use
for fertilizing the soil, as the planters
thought It would do. A dust fell here in
1812 which caused Barbados to have •
better crop than ever before. It also
came from Soufriere of St. Vincent.”